


There Are No More Unicorns Now

by Fan_by_Proxy



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Demon Dean Winchester, Human Castiel, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-07
Updated: 2014-06-07
Packaged: 2018-02-03 19:05:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1754793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fan_by_Proxy/pseuds/Fan_by_Proxy





	There Are No More Unicorns Now

Folksy music rattled around the bunker; some kind of bouncy acoustic guitar and men’s chorus.  Dean frowned, trying to figure out how anything like that even _got_ inside.  Probably part of Bobby’s inheritance; one of his golden moldy oldies that nobody had the heart to throw away.  Shaking his head, Dean followed the sound back and wasn’t really too surprised to find it was coming from his room.  Ever since Cas had figured out how to use the stereo, he’d been determined to figure out every music reference he’d ever heard.

Dean opened the door and found Cas on the bed, red-eyed and sniffling.  That had been happening a lot lately; the last of Grace had burned out and he was handling it about as well as any supernatural being finding themselves suddenly mortal…which was to say not well at all.  “Cas?”

The former angel needed a few hefty sniffs before he could answer.  “This song…it’s very much the way it happened.”

It took a minute listening to figure out what Cas was talking about; Dean had no idea how any Irish Rovers wound up in the music collection, so he chalked it up to Bobby again.  “What do you mean?” he asked, kneeling on the bed and touching Cas’ shoulder lightly.

“Unicorns.” Cas replied with a quivery voice.  “They were real.  They were magnificent steeds…neither glittery nor kind as your writers have made them out to be, but they existed.”

“And?” Dean asked, trying to figure out what was so upsetting about any of that.

“The Great Flood carried them away.  God still took great interest in the world then; he could have lifted them up.”  Cas wiped his eyes with his hands clumsily, like a child.  “But they no longer amused Him.”

“Oh.”  What else could you say to that? 

“And so the great beasts were carried off on a whim…and forgotten.” Cas shook his head, fresh tears falling on his hands.  “Like me.”

Dean eased closer and put his arms around Cas.  He really couldn’t think of anything better to do; Cas had every right in the world to feel abandoned, and Dean knew there wasn’t anything in the world that could speed up getting over that feeling.  So he pulled Cas close and let his shoulder sop up the tears. 

Then it happened.  A niggling little ringing in his ear.  Of _all_ the freaking times for some dipshit to call!  “Cas, no more of that song.  I gotta go—I’ll be right back.” Dean kissed the side of his head.  “Just wait for me, ok?”

There was a tiny, pitiable nod.  It’d have to do; Dean wasn’t in any position to ignore a summoning.

 

He was still battling the demonic urges, but when dumbass kids showed up at the crossroads asking for stupid shit, it really, _really_ made him want to screw them over.  Today’s dumbass kid wanted the usual: fame, fortune, babes, and a record deal.  “Fine.” He groaned.  “Where’s the payment?”

The kid offered up a Styrofoam to-go cup full of what smelled like deer blood.

“Jesus Christ kid,” he spat even as he flinched, “put that shit away, that’s _disgusting_.”

“B-b-b-but the book said—”

“Fuck your book.  Turn your ass around, go to the store, and bring me back a stuffed unicorn.”

The kid stared at him.  “Are…are you serious?”

“Don’t fucking _question_ me, have you forgotten I’m a goddamn demon?” Dean glared.  “Go. To.  The.  Store.  Get me a unicorn.  I’ll even throw in an extra year—that makes eleven before your life goes to shit.  Now _go_!”

The kid took off, pedaling his Huffy as fast as humanly possible. 

He couldn’t lie; there was a certain sick satisfaction in scaring the stupid ones.  That probably was a bad thing where it concerned his fast-waning humanity.

 

It had been a couple of hours since Dean had left.  Cas had done as he’d been asked and taken off the sad unicorn song.  His mood was still miserable, which would be tolerable if he could just, for two minutes, have control over his tears.  He still didn’t understand why mortals cried but he at least knew now why it always took them forever to stop.

“I’m back.”

Cas looked up and cocked his head, squinting.  Dean was in the doorway, holding some kind of glittery, stuffed abomination.  “What’s that?”

Dean came in, sitting on the edge of the bed and putting the cross-eyed thing in his hand.  “It’s a unicorn.”

He took it slowly, turning it over and over.  It took a few turns for the thing to start making sense; the legs were fat little gumdrops, the mane and tail were fleecy strips, and what was supposed to be the horn was shedding glitter with a vengeance.  Cas looked back at Dean, confused.

“My mom used to tell me that nothing was ever really lost if at least one person remembered…” he smiled sheepishly.  When Dean got nervous, he couldn’t control his eyes.  The left one usually went black and he never realized it without someone pointing it out; it was the same thing that happened when he sneezed.  Time would probably teach him proper demonic control.

But in these moments, Cas felt a little more hopeful.  If Dean could just cling to those last shreds of decency a little while longer, something would happen.  Somehow, things would work out.  Somebody somewhere would know a way to fix this mistake, and then Sam would come home and all would be right with the world.  He clutched the stuffed little token to his chest and smiled. 

“Thank you.”


End file.
